If most Black people don’t see the Clintons for what they are by now, they never will.

Bill Clinton spoke at a rally last week as a surrogate for his wife, Hillary Clinton. Today, he’s still trying to wedge his foot out of his mouth by ‘almost apologizing’ for his tirade.

A Black Lives Matter supporter shouted at Clinton during the rally and he launched a full court press calling the woman a “girl” while defending his position on the 1994 crime bill that incarcerated an overwhelming number of Black Americans. Bill Clinton was completely self-serving in his response, shouting down the woman defending Black Lives Matter, in the crowd. What Bill Clinton didn’t dispatch from his mouth was the issue of privatized prisons.

If you haven’t noticed it yet, the Clintons are notorious for being mean, wicked and nasty to those who don’t share their same ideologies and if you dispute their decisions, they go into finger-pointing, chicken-necking, bully-beast, mode. Exhibit A is the finger-pointing monster that reared it’s ugly head from Hillary Clinton’s body at a rally a couple of weeks ago in early April. When a Greenpeace activist asked her if she accepted fossil fuel money for her campaign, Hillary pointed her finger in the woman’s face and shouted, as if she was getting ready to attack her Jerry Springer style at any given moment. She also went off on a young black woman for not sharing her same ideology. That, in itself, is not presidential.

When a South Carolina Representative yelled to President Obama, “you lie,” the President did not respond in such a way as Hillary did with those who disagree with her. When Governor Jan Brewer pointed her finger in President Obama’s face, he did not let the nation see him sweat. Even though we die-hard supporters of the President wanted to throw a chair at the head of the finger-pointing governor and the congressman to protect our President, he remained Presidential and kept his cool.

There are also pretty solid rumors of Hilary Clinton being insubordinate to President Obama. Those rumors are not hard to swallow as she made it clear when she campaigned against him that she had no respect for the then Senator Obama and she followed it up by resigning before the term was up as Secretary of State in his administration. For the record, Benghazi was not the reason she resigned. If so, and as I regurgitate the words she used during the Benghazi hearing, “what difference does it make, now?”

Bill Clinton took the rally shouting match against the Black Lives Matter activist exactly where he wanted it to go and that was AWAY from the issue of the privatization of prisons. See, private prisons are for profit corporations and yielded wealth for the Clintons. Each Black body that fell victim to that crime bill paid with their lives over and over again.

There was money to be made from each prisoner. With Black men being incarcerated at a rate of almost 5 times that of white men, there is plenty of money to be made, with very little pushback. There is even additional money to be made if those prisoners are sick or die while incarcerated. If you think the buying and selling of baby parts by Planned Parenthood is the only sick body organ scandal going on in America, then you’ll be surprised to know, if a prisoner is sick or dies, their body; their organs are property of the state or the prison. The state or the prison can then sell those body parts to companies for clinical trials. Prisoners and their families have no rights under the law regarding what happens to their bodies – dead or alive.

Sadly, these prisons have monthly quotas to meet based on occupancy. If one of these prisons doesn’t have many prisoners, tax payers may have to foot the bill and pay for any empty beds inside that prison. Some of these prisons guarantee a 80-100% occupancy rate. How and where do they get those prisoners? So glad you asked. Look around the prisons and you’ll be able to tell. The prisoners are just as Black and Brown as I.

Bill Clinton shouted back at the Black Lives Matter activist saying, ‘Obama is trying to fix it and let ‘em out now, but…’ Fix what? Glad you asked again! He could have only been referring to the mess made by himself (Bill Clinton) and his wife, Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The lobbying firms for private prisons spent millions of dollars convincing lawmakers to join in on this private prison money-maker. GEO and Corrections Corporations of America have given more than $10 million to campaigns. In 2015, they made over $3 billion in annual revenue. Talk about modern day slavery.

During Clinton’s presidency, the prison population more than doubled following the 1994 crime bill. At the rally last week, the Black Lives Matter activist had every right to protest the stories Bill Clinton told in support of his wife from the podium. For those who claim it was his administration that did all this and not Hillary, then why is he stomping as a surrogate for her? And don’t be fooled into thinking she was a “do-nothing First Lady”.

The Clinton’s have always acted as Republicans in this manner and their biggest support system is still from Black people and I’ll never understand why.

To every mother of a black girl, this is for you. It also serves as a reminder to myself to continue to nudge my daughter. While the country is focused on the horrible murders of black men, the failed American judicial system and the improper treatment of the first black President of the United States of America, we are still responsible for raising our girls. To do that with power, there are a few things we must consider to be non-negotiable.

First, we must teach our girls about their ancestry. Not only have them sit down with their grandparents and discuss the family history, but go beyond and find their roots. In this, they likely will take pride and be surprised at what royalty from which they extend. Be honest with them about how the world may view them and prove to your girls that populations of people feel negative toward them because, with the right tools, so many fear black girls are destined to be fierce. They are more than entertainers, but entrepreneurs, scientists, scholars and more.
Invest in their education. Find someone or some “thing”, like computer software or books, to teach them proper English, proper Spanish and the latest dialect of Arabic because they are going to need it all. Even if they take it in public school, follow it up and perfect it at home. Save for their education as aggressively as if they are going to Yale without a scholarship. Never let money be the reason they cannot go to an Ivy League college and finish. Prepare them to get accepted and send them. Don’t beg any man to be a part of their lives. If applicable, ask once and let it go. Get your girls the very best healthcare you know how and do it in a timely manner.

Refuse to let doctors make the final decision for their health and always consider surgery to be the last option for any disorder or disease. If they get a chance to travel, access the situation, accept the offer, send them or go with them. Allow them to see as much as they can and be there to explain and translate what they witness. Take them to church, pray with them and study the Bible with them at home as if it is the only thing that matters. Teach them suicide is never an option and make them promise you they will never take their own life. Make sure they understand that mental healthcare is just as important as physical healthcare and to not be ashamed to ask for help should they need it.

Remind them to be compassionate and bless others when they can but to take care of themselves first. Moms, as hard as it may be, we must learn to let go when the time comes. Don’t guilt your babies into staying at home as opposed to experiencing higher education and living their own lives. Listen to them while they talk. Laugh at their jokes and remind them of how beautiful they are on the inside and outside. Monitor their calls, emails and text messages and do everything you possibly can to keep them away from drugs and alcohol. Ask their teachers how they behave in school and who their close friends are in each class. Get political at times and remind them blacks fought and died for their right to vote but not for them to vote only Democrat or only Republican. The way they vote is their own call, not anyone else’s. Don’t just keep them out of the “system” but teach them to stay out of trouble as much as possible, yet to challenge things that are not fair. In other words, if they get in trouble, let it be because they stood for what is right. The law is not always on the side of black girls and being in jail or prison is not where they are destined to end up.
Teach them to never beg a man to love them as the outcome will not be what they dream it will be if they do so. Tell them if they cannot find a job, to create one as we all have the same power to build small and large businesses just as Bill Gates and Donald Trump. Remind them that while they may be afraid at times, believe every single one of God’s promises; don’t pick and choose, but believe it in its entirety and trust Him with every Iota of their being. Remind your daughters to smile and greet other black girls for they are their sisters. Teach them that their body is all they have and to be as careful with it as if it is the largest, most beautiful, most sought after, African diamond in the world.
Help them understand that friends may come and go but to choose each friend wisely. Stick closely to people who share the same basic foundations and beliefs yet be open to knowing those of all faiths and cultures. In the age of social media we attack people more so than ever before. Teach your girls to not be discouraged by cowards who send negative comments from behind their computer screens about them. If they are attacked with harsh words, teach them to fairly check themselves and if it applies, then work in changing that negative feature. If it does not apply, forget about it. Finally, tell them to make sure they do each and every thing here for their own little black girls one day so they can ultimately be the very best that God intended them to be regardless of the harsh world that encompasses them.

Rhetta Peoples is the CEO of a thriving boutique advertising, grassroots marketing and crisis public relations firm based in Orlando. She is also a journalist for the Black Press, a political expert, a Mom, a wife and a black woman meeting success head-on in Orlando.

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Rhetta Peoples is the CEO of a thriving boutique advertising, grassroots marketing and crisis public relations firm based in Orlando. She is also a journalist for the Black Press, a political expert, a Mom, a wife and a black woman meeting success head-on in Orlando.